LONDON, Mar14 (AFP): The United States and Russia on Friday launched a round of 11th-hour diplomacy just two days before Crimea votes to secede from Ukraine in a referendum that has sparked the biggest East-West showdown since the Cold War.
US Secretary of State John Kerry met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in London a day after bloodshed returned to the streets of Ukraine with the stabbing death of a man in clashes between pro-Moscow and pro-Kiev supporters in the eastern city of Donetsk.
"This is a difficult situation we are in," Lavrov told Kerry at the start of their meeting. "Many events have happened and a lot of time has been lost."
Ukraine remained a tinderbox as more than 8,000 Russian troops staged drills near its eastern border while NATO and US reconnaissance craft and fighters patrolled the skies of the ex-Soviet state's EU neighbours to the west.
Kerry has warned Russia that Washington and Europe could announce a "very serious" response as early as Monday if Moscow does not pull back the troops who seized control of Crimea days after the pro-Kremlin regime fell in Kiev last month.
"The first thing that Secretary Kerry will say is 'Will you use your influence to buy time and space for negotiations to take place?," one US official said ahead of the Kerry-Lavrov talks.
Yet Russia has shown little willingness to negotiate and refuses to recognise the legitimacy of the Western-leaning team that has taken power in Kiev-a move that threatens to shatter President Vladimir Putin's dream of rebuilding a Soviet-type empire.
US, Russia launch last-ditch diplomacy before Crimea vote
FE Team | Published: March 15, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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